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Glades in the sky
Translations © by Faith J. Cormier
Song Cycle by Lili Boulanger (1893 - 1918)
View original-language texts alone: Clairières dans le ciel
Elle était descendue au bas de la prairie, et, comme la prairie était toute fleurie de plantes dont la tige aime à pousser dans l'eau, ces plantes inondées je les avais cueillies. Bientôt, s'étant mouillée, elle gagna le haut de cette prairie-là qui était toute fleurie. Elle riait et s'ébrouait avec la grâce dégingandée qu'ont les jeunes filles trop grandes. Elle avait le regard qu'ont les fleurs de lavande.
Authorship:
- by Francis Jammes (1868 - 1938), no title, appears in Clairières dans le ciel, in Tristesses, no. 2, first published 1906
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Faith J. Cormier) , "She had gone down to the bottom of the meadow", copyright © 2003, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- SPA Spanish (Español) (Elisa Rapado) , copyright © 2020, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
She had gone down to the bottom of the meadow, and because the meadow was full of flowers that like to grow in the water, I had gathered the drowned plants. Soon, because she was wet, she came back to the top of that flowery meadow. She laughed and moved with the lanky grace of girls who are too tall. She looked the way lavender flowers do.
Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2003 by Faith J. Cormier, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
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Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Francis Jammes (1868 - 1938), no title, appears in Clairières dans le ciel, in Tristesses, no. 2, first published 1906
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This text was added to the website: 2004-01-27
Line count: 9
Word count: 67
Elle est gravement gaie. Par moments son regard se levait comme pour surprendre ma pensée. Elle était douce alors comme quand il est tard le velours jaune et bleu d'une allée de pensées.
Authorship:
- by Francis Jammes (1868 - 1938), no title, appears in Clairières dans le ciel, in Tristesses, no. 4, first published 1906
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Faith J. Cormier) , "She is solemnly gay", copyright © 2003, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
She is solemnly gay. Sometimes she looked up as if to see what I was thinking. She was as soft as the yellow and blue velvet of a lane of pansies late at night.
Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2003 by Faith J. Cormier, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
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Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Francis Jammes (1868 - 1938), no title, appears in Clairières dans le ciel, in Tristesses, no. 4, first published 1906
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This text was added to the website: 2004-01-27
Line count: 4
Word count: 34
Parfois, je suis triste. Et soudain, je pense à elle. Alors, je suis joyeux. Mais je redeviens triste de ce que je ne sais pas combien elle m'aime. Elle est la jeune fille à l'âme toute claire, et qui, dedans son cœur, garde avec jalousie l'unique passion que l'on donne à un seul. Elle est partie avant que s'ouvrent les tilleuls, et, comme ils ont fleuri depuis qu'elle est partie, Je me suis étonné de voir, ô mes amis, des branches de tilleuls qui n'avaient pas de fleurs.
Authorship:
- by Francis Jammes (1868 - 1938), no title, appears in Clairières dans le ciel, in Tristesses, no. 5, first published 1906
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Faith J. Cormier) , "Sometimes I'm sad", copyright © 2003, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Sometimes I'm sad, and then suddenly I think of her and I'm happy. Then I'm sad again because I don't know how much she loves me. She is a bright-souled girl, and in her heart she jealously protects the one passion she will bestow on only one. She left before the lindens opened. They have flowered since then and I was amazed, my friends, to see linden branches with no flowers on them.
Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2003 by Faith J. Cormier, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Francis Jammes (1868 - 1938), no title, appears in Clairières dans le ciel, in Tristesses, no. 5, first published 1906
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This text was added to the website: 2004-01-27
Line count: 10
Word count: 73
Un poète disait que, lorsqu'il était jeune, il fleurissait des vers comme un rosier des roses. Lorsque je pense à elle, il me semble que jase une fontaine intarissable dans mon cœur. Comme sur le lys Dieu pose un parfum d'église, comme il met du corail aux joues de la cerise, je veux poser sur elle, avec dévotion, la couleur d'un parfum, qui n'aura pas de nom.
Authorship:
- by Francis Jammes (1868 - 1938), no title, appears in Clairières dans le ciel, in Tristesses, no. 6, first published 1906
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Faith J. Cormier) , "A poet said", copyright © 2003, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
A poet said that when he was young poems budded out of him like roses on a rose bush. When I think of her, it feels like there is an inexhaustible spring in my heart. As God gives the lily the odor of a church and tints the cherry's cheeks, I want to give her with devotion the colour of a perfume that shall have no name.
Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2003 by Faith J. Cormier, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Francis Jammes (1868 - 1938), no title, appears in Clairières dans le ciel, in Tristesses, no. 6, first published 1906
Go to the single-text view
This text was added to the website: 2004-01-27
Line count: 8
Word count: 67
Au pied de mon lit, une Vierge négresse fut mise par ma mère. Et j'aime cette Vierge d'une religion un peu italienne. Virgo Lauretana, debout dans un fond d'or, qui me faites penser à mille fruits de mer que l'on vend sur les quais où pas un souffle d'air n'émeut les pavillons qui lourdement s'endorment, Virgo Lauretana, vous savez qu'en ces heures où je ne me sens pas digne d'être aimé d'elle c'est vous dont le parfum me rafraîchit le cœur.
Authorship:
- by Francis Jammes (1868 - 1938), no title, appears in Clairières dans le ciel, in Tristesses, no. 8, first published 1906
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Faith J. Cormier) , no title, copyright © 2003, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
At the foot of my bed my mother hung a Black Virgin. And I love this Virgin with an almost Italian devotion. Virgo Lauretana, standing in a field of gold, you make me think of a thousand crustaceans for sale on wharves where not a breath of air stirs the sleepy banners. Virgo Lauretana, you know that in those hours when I am not worthy to be loved by her, your perfume refreshes my heart.
Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2003 by Faith J. Cormier, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Francis Jammes (1868 - 1938), no title, appears in Clairières dans le ciel, in Tristesses, no. 8, first published 1906
Go to the single-text view
Translation of title "Au pied de mon lit" = "At the foot of my bed"This text was added to the website: 2004-01-27
Line count: 10
Word count: 75
Si tout ceci n'est qu'un pauvre rêve, et s'il faut que j'ajoute dans ma vie, une fois encore, la désillusion aux désillusions ; et, si je dois encore, par ma sombre folie, chercher dans la douceur du vent et de la pluie les seules vaines voix qui m'aient en passion : je ne sais si je guérirai, ô mon amie...
Authorship:
- by Francis Jammes (1868 - 1938), no title, appears in Clairières dans le ciel, in Tristesses, no. 10, first published 1906
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Faith J. Cormier) , "If all were naught but a poor dream", copyright © 2003, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
If all were naught but a poor dream, and if I had to pile disillusionment on disillusionment in my life, and if in my shadowy madness I again had to look to the sweetness of wind and rain to find the only vain voices that love me passionately, I don't know if I would ever get better, sweetheart...
Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2003 by Faith J. Cormier, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Francis Jammes (1868 - 1938), no title, appears in Clairières dans le ciel, in Tristesses, no. 10, first published 1906
Go to the single-text view
This text was added to the website: 2004-01-27
Line count: 7
Word count: 58
Nous nous aimerons tant que nous tairons nos mots, en nous tendant la main, quand nous nous reverrons. Vous serez ombragée par d'anciens rameaux sur le banc que je sais où nous nous assoirons. [ ... ] Donc nous nous assoirons sur ce banc, tous deux seuls, [ ... ] D'un long moment, ô mon amie, vous n'oserez... Que vous me serrez douce et que je tremblerai...
Authorship:
- by Francis Jammes (1868 - 1938), no title, appears in Clairières dans le ciel, in Tristesses, no. 13, first published 1906
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Faith J. Cormier) , "We will love each other so much", copyright © 2003, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
We will love each other so much that we won't speak
but just stretch out our hands to each other when we see each other again.
You will be in the shadow of ancient branches,
on the bench where I know we will sit.
[ ... ]
Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2003 by Faith J. Cormier, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Francis Jammes (1868 - 1938), no title, appears in Clairières dans le ciel, in Tristesses, no. 13, first published 1906
Go to the single-text view
This text was added to the website: 2004-01-27
Line count: 7
Word count: 72
Vous m'avez regardé avec toute votre âme. Vous m'avez regardé longtemps comme un ciel bleu. J'ai mis votre regard à l'ombre de [vos]1 yeux... Que ce regard était passionné et calme...
Authorship:
- by Francis Jammes (1868 - 1938), no title, appears in Clairières dans le ciel, in Tristesses, no. 17, first published 1906
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Faith J. Cormier) , "You looked at me with all your soul", copyright © 2003, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
1 Boulanger: "mes"
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
You looked at me with all your soul. You looked at me for a long time, like a blue sky. I put your glance in the shadow of my eyes... How passionate and calm it was...
Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2003 by Faith J. Cormier, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Francis Jammes (1868 - 1938), no title, appears in Clairières dans le ciel, in Tristesses, no. 17, first published 1906
Go to the single-text view
This text was added to the website: 2004-01-27
Line count: 4
Word count: 36
Les lilas qui avaient fleuri l'année dernière vont fleurir de nouveau dans les tristes parterres. Déjà le pêcher grêle a jonché le ciel bleu de ses roses, comme un enfant la Fête-Dieu. Mon cœur devrait mourir au milieu de ces choses, car c'était au milieu des vergers blancs et roses que j'avais espéré je ne sais quoi de vous. Mon âme rêve sourdement sur vos genoux. Ne la repoussez point. Ne la relevez pas de peur qu'en s'éloignant de vous elle ne voie combien vous êtes faible et troublée dans ses bras.
Authorship:
- by Francis Jammes (1868 - 1938), no title, appears in Clairières dans le ciel, in Tristesses, no. 19, first published 1906
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Faith J. Cormier) , "The lilacs which bloomed", copyright © 2003, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- SPA Spanish (Español) (Elisa Rapado) , copyright © 2020, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
The lilacs which bloomed last year will flower again in their sad beds. Already the frail peach tree has bedecked the blue sky with its roses, like a child on the feast of Corpus Christi. My heart should die amid all these things, for it was among white and pink orchards that I had hoped for I don't know what from you. My soul sleeps soundly in your lap. Don't push it away. Don't awaken it, for fear that when it leaves it will see how you are weak and troubled in its arms.
Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2003 by Faith J. Cormier, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Francis Jammes (1868 - 1938), no title, appears in Clairières dans le ciel, in Tristesses, no. 19, first published 1906
Go to the single-text view
This text was added to the website: 2004-01-27
Line count: 11
Word count: 94
Deux ancolies se balançaient sur la colline Et l'ancolie disait à sa sœur l'ancolie : Je tremble devant toi et demeure confuse. Et l'autre répondait : si dans la roche qu'use l'eau, goutte à goutte, si je me mire, je vois que je tremble, et je suis confuse comme toi. Le vent de plus en plus les berçait toutes deux, les emplissait d'amour et mêlait leurs cœurs bleus.
Authorship:
- by Francis Jammes (1868 - 1938), no title, appears in Clairières dans le ciel, in Tristesses, no. 20, first published 1906
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Faith J. Cormier) , "Two columbines", copyright © 2003, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Two columbines rocked on the hill. One columbine said to her sister columbine, "I tremble before you and am confused." The other answered, "If in the rock that the water wears away drop by drop I look at myself, I see that I tremble and I am as confused as you are." The wind rocked them harder, filling them with love and mingling their blue hearts.
Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2003 by Faith J. Cormier, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Francis Jammes (1868 - 1938), no title, appears in Clairières dans le ciel, in Tristesses, no. 20, first published 1906
Go to the single-text view
This text was added to the website: 2004-01-27
Line count: 8
Word count: 66
Par ce que j'ai souffert, ma mésange bénie, je sais ce qu'a souffert l'autre : car j'étais deux... Je sais vos longs réveils au milieu de la nuit et l'angoisse de moi qui vous gonfle le sein. On dirait par moments qu'une tête chérie, confiante et pure, ô vous qui êtes la sœur des lins en fleurs et qui parfois fixez le ciel comme eux, on dirait qu'une tête inclinée dans la nuit pèse de tout son poids, à jamais, sur ma vie.
Authorship:
- by Francis Jammes (1868 - 1938), appears in Clairières dans le ciel, in Tristesses, no. 21, first published 1906
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Faith J. Cormier) , "Because I have suffered", copyright © 2003, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Because I have suffered, blessed titmouse, I know what the other has suffered, for I was two... I know how long you lay awake at night and how anguish for me swelled your bosom. Sometimes one would say that a dear head, trusting and pure, you who are sister of the blooming flax and who sometimes stare at the sky as they do, one would say that a head bent in the night weighs heavily on my life forever.
Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2003 by Faith J. Cormier, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Francis Jammes (1868 - 1938), appears in Clairières dans le ciel, in Tristesses, no. 21, first published 1906
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This text was added to the website: 2004-01-27
Line count: 9
Word count: 79
Je garde une médaille d'elle où sont gravés une date et les mots: prier, croire, espérer. Mais moi, je vois surtout que la médaille est sombre : son argent a noirci sur son col de colombe.
Authorship:
- by Francis Jammes (1868 - 1938), no title, appears in Clairières dans le ciel, in Tristesses, no. 15, first published 1906
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Faith J. Cormier) , "I keep a medal for her", copyright © 2003, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
I keep a medal for her on which are engraved three words: pray, believe, hope. What I see most is that the medal is dark because its silver has blackened on her dove's neck.
Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2003 by Faith J. Cormier, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Francis Jammes (1868 - 1938), no title, appears in Clairières dans le ciel, in Tristesses, no. 15, first published 1906
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This text was added to the website: 2004-01-27
Line count: 4
Word count: 34
Demain fera un an qu'à Audaux je cueillais les fleurs dont j'ai parlé, de la prairie mouillée. C'est aujourd'hui le plus beau des jours de Pâques. Je me suis enfoncé dans l'azur des campagnes, à travers bois, à travers prés, à travers champs. Comment, mon cœur, n'es-tu pas mort depuis un an ? Mon cœur, je t'ai donné encore ce calvaire de revoir ce village où j'avais tant souffert, ces roses qui saignaient devant les presbytère, ces lilas qui me tuent dans les tristes parterres. Je me suis souvenu de ma détresse ancienne, et je ne sais comment je ne suis pas tombé sur l'ocre du sentier, le front dans la poussière. Plus rien. Je n'ai plus rien, plus rien qui me soutienne. Pourquoi fait-il si beau et pourquoi suis-je né ? J'aurais voulu poser sur vos calmes genoux la fatigue qui rompt mon âme qui se couche ainsi qu'une pauvresse au fossé de la route. Dormir. Pouvoir dormir. Dormir à tout jamais sous les averses bleues, sous les tonnerres frais. Ne plus sentir. Ne plus savoir votre existence. Ne plus voir cet azur engloutir ces coteaux dans ce vertige bleu qui mêle l'air à l'eau, ni ce vide où je cherche en vain votre présence. Il me semble sentir pleurer au fond de moi, d'un lourd sanglot muet, quelqu'un qui n'est pas là. J'écris. Et la campagne est sonore de joie. [On entend les clochers qui appellent aux vêpres, et les grillons chanter l'heureuse paix champêtre. On voit à l'intérieur pâle des métairies les chapeaux de travail dormir près des tamis.]1 ...Elle était descendue au bas de la prairie, et comme la prairie était toute fleurie...2
Authorship:
- by Francis Jammes (1868 - 1938), no title, appears in Clairières dans le ciel, in Tristesses, no. 24, first published 1906
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Faith J. Cormier) , "Tomorrow it will be a year", copyright © 2003, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
1 omitted by Boulanger.
2 Boulanger here repeats a line from earlier: "Plus rien. Je n'ai plus rien, plus rien qui me soutienne."
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
Tomorrow it will be a year since I gathered the flowers I spoke of, in the wet meadow at Audaux. Today is the fairest of the Easter season. I've buried myself in the blue of the countryside, through woods, through meadows, through fields. How, my heart, did you not die a year ago? My heart, I've given you a new Calvary, seeing the village where I suffered so much, these roses bleeding before the priest's house, the lilacs killing me in their sad beds. I remembered my old distress and I don't know why I didn't fall on the ochre path, my brow in the dust. Nothing left. I have nothing left, nothing left to hold me up. Why is it so lovely out, and why was I born? I would have wished to lay on your calm lap the weariness that breaks my soul that lays itself down, like a poor woman in the ditch beside the road. To sleep. To be able to sleep. To be able to sleep forever under the blue showers and the cool thunder. To not feel any more. To not know you exist any more. To never again see this azure swallow up these hills in the dizzying blue that mixes air and water, nor this vacuum where I seek your presence in vain. It seems that I feel someone who is not there weeping with heavy, silent sobs inside of me. I write. And the countryside sounds with joy. ...She went down to the bottom of the meadow, and like the meadow she was all in bloom....
Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2003 by Faith J. Cormier, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Francis Jammes (1868 - 1938), no title, appears in Clairières dans le ciel, in Tristesses, no. 24, first published 1906
Go to the single-text view
This text was added to the website: 2004-01-27
Line count: 29
Word count: 265